When pianist/composer Luke Gillespie went on sabbatical from
his professorial post in spring 2018, he proposed to his department head a
project that would allow him to write for and record with his faculty
colleagues. It's not your everyday proposal: Gillespie is professor of jazz
piano at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, one of the world's most
prestigious conservatories, and his colleagues at the time included the likes
of vocalist Tierney Sutton, guitarist Dave Stryker and saxophonist Walter Smith
III. The final project, Moving Mists, will be released July 12, 2019 through
Patois Records.
"My colleagues are some of the greatest musicians in
the world, and some of the most professional," says Gillespie. "We do
play together several times a semester, in different venues. But this gave me a
chance to actually record with my colleagues. It's nice to have a document that
we have played together."
In addition to Smith, Stryker and Sutton, Moving Mists
features the acclaimed talents of trumpeters John Raymond and Pat Harbison, trombonists
Wayne Wallace and Brennan Johns, saxophonist Tom Walsh, bassists Jeremy Allen
and Todd Coolman, and drummer Steve Houghton, working in various combinations.
Another of Gillespie's IU colleagues, Brent Wallarab, contributed two
arrangements for sextet and septet.
"I wanted to use as many of my colleagues as I
could," says Gillespie, who regards his faculty mates as his musical
family. "Nobody plays on everything-except me-but everybody plays on
something, though I chose not to solo on 'This I Dig of Grew' on purpose to
honor the late Mulgrew Miller."
The pianist also wanted to give features to the album's
participants, both showcasing their remarkable talents and thanking them for
their work with him. Houghton has the first such feature with the opening
"I Hear a Rhapsody," an inventive trio arrangement for Gillespie,
Houghton and bassist Jeremy Allen. The latter has his own turn in the spotlight
on the album's second trio setting, "My Funny Valentine."
Trumpeter Raymond and saxophonist Smith team up for a double
feature. "Blues for All" is a Gillespie original that, as the title
suggests, is an upbeat variation on Miles Davis's iconic 6/8 "All
Blues" that allows the two horn men to attack it with relish. Then comes
"Giant Steps," John Coltrane's perennial minefield. Both Smith (who
begins with only drums accompanying) and Raymond show grim determination on
their solos, but also absolute assurance in their melodic and rhythmic choices.
Raymond returns to center stage on his own, this time with
flugelhorn, on Gillespie's "Moving Mist." The tune is a subtle nod to
Japan's cultural influence: Though his family is American, Gillespie grew up in
Osaka. "I've got one foot in Japanese culture and one foot in American
culture," he says. Specifically, "Moving Mists" reflects the
influence of Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi and his film score work, especially
for director Hayao Miyazaki.
"Beautiful Love" is a duet for Gillespie and the
acclaimed vocalist Sutton, which they recorded shortly before Sutton left the
faculty at IU to concentrate on her performing career. Its stark, haunting
beauty is in many ways a tribute to the singer's perfectionism. "We did
three takes," Gillespie says. "Each time, the engineer and I were
ready to sign off on it, but Tierney kept insisting she could do better. And
sure enough, she did."
"This I Dig of Grew" and "DaNaBar," both
Gillespie's, are Wallarab's arrangements for septet and sextet, respectively.
Both are tributes to recently departed influences of Gillespie's. The former,
of course, salutes piano great Mulgrew Miller, who died in 2013. (The composer
was also thinking when he wrote the tune of the late, great pianist Tommy
Flanagan.) The graceful "DaNaBar" is for another IU faculty member
who is an unspoken presence throughout the album: David Baker, who founded both
the university's jazz program and, arguably, the entire academic discipline of
jazz studies. "I could have dedicated the whole CD to his memory,"
says the pianist. "I owe everything to him." The two Wallarab
arrangements, he adds, demonstrate his colleagues' top-flight professionalism.
"We looked at those charts for the first time at the session-and in both
cases they nailed it in the first take."
Gillespie features himself on two solo tunes, both of them
remarkably delicate takes on bebop standards. "Round Midnight"
becomes a solemn minuet with echoes of composers John Field and Frederic Chopin,
a glimpse into Gillespie's parallel background in classical music. (While his
bachelor's and master's degrees are in jazz piano, he studied classical for his
doctorate.) The closing "All the Things You Are" takes on a slow,
eerie aspect, with the pianist's bass lines casting unusual shadows against his
melodic right hand.
About Luke Gillespie
Born April 16, 1957 in Kyoto, Japan, Luke Gillespie grew up
in Osaka, the son of a Baptist missionary from Memphis, Tennessee. His father
loved black gospel music, such as Mahalia Jackson and the Edwin Hawkins
singers, and his older brother (who, like Luke, took piano lessons at their
father's behest) was a fan of Ray Charles and James Brown. Against that soulful
background, however, Gillespie was transformed when a friend played him a
Thelonious Monk record. From that moment on, he was a jazz fanatic.
After graduating from the International School in Kobe,
Gillespie matriculated at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN-compelled by
its jazz studies director, David Baker, whose book Jazz Improvisation he had
devoured in high school. Though he enrolled as a classical piano major, Baker
heard Gillespie play and allowed him to change to jazz studies, where he
ultimately earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. While studying
for his doctorate in classical piano, Gillespie took an adjunct position as the
university's jazz piano professor, which became full-time after he completed
his studies in 1997.
In addition to his teaching career, Gillespie frequently
performs around the Midwest, the US and the world, both as a sideman and a
leader. He has received numerous awards, including best performance from the
Indianapolis Star in 1993, the 1990 Copland Piano Concerto Competition at
Indiana University, and the 1994 Indianapolis Jazz Festival Competition. His
first album, Footprints (2003), was a solo performance, while 2009's Live at
the Station and 2011's Third Base Line both placed him at the head of a trio
with bassist Jeremy Allen and drummer Jason Tiemann. Moving Mists is his fourth
album.
